Ogunquit declares COVID-19 emergency, chooses advisory task force

Wednesday

Apr 29, 2020 at 4:28 PM

OGUNQUIT — Select Board members in Ogunquit took significant steps to deal with the COVID-19 emergency in the town during a special meeting Tuesday night.

Board members voted to declare a pandemic emergency by proclamation, granting special emergency authority to Town Manager Patricia Finnigan, and they chose a nine-person task force to develop a plan and course of action for eventually reopening the town once the COVID-19 crisis has subsided. The board also voted to defer payments for commercial fishing moorings to September to assist fishermen in their financial recovery from the crisis.

Town Attorney Mary Costigan told the board that the state of Maine requires municipalities to have an emergency structure in place for addressing issues that may arise during a crisis and that by declaring an emergency through a proclamation would cover that.

“The pattern is that towns are thinking ahead to protect residents and encourage them to follow protections in place,” Costigan said.

Under provisions of the emergency proclamation, Finnigan will have the authority to set rules to protect public health and represent the Select Board in coordinating regional plans with nearby towns and communities.

“The reason for this is to have a point of contact out of necessity to act quickly,” Finnigan said.

Two board members, Heath Ouellette and John Daly, wanted to set a specific end-date limit for the emergency proclamation, but after a lengthy discussion, that provision was voted down by the board, 3-2, with board members Madeline Mooney, Robert Winn and Lindsey Perry voting against setting a proclamation date limit.

Daly said he was OK with granting Finnigan emergency authority during the crisis, but he thinks that town residents and business owners need a firm end date in order to arrange plans for the future.

“I’m OK with the emergency declaration because I know she won’t make any rash decisions without consulting with others,” Daly said.

In appointing an Ogunquit COVID-19 Task Force to make specific recommendations to the board about reopening the town after the crisis passes, Mooney said that a record total of 39 individuals submitted applications to the board to be a part of that entity.

The select board voted to limit the number of COVID-19 task force participants to nine, including three representatives from the Economic Recovery Task Force recently set up by the Ogunquit Chamber of Commerce.

In making nominations for the Ogunquit COVID-19 Task Force, board members decided not to include current select board members, although Ouellette, who has a background in healthcare, had submitted an application to serve on the task force.

As appointed by the select board, the Ogunquit COVID-19 Task Force will be made up of Alice Pearce, the executive director of the Ogunquit Chamber of Commerce; Kent Bridges and Rick Barber of the chamber’s Economic Recovery Task Force; Ogunquit residents Pam Sawyer, Charles LaFlamme, Robert Whitelaw, Terry Ann Lunt and Buzz Roy; and part-time Ogunquit resident Rebecca Fox, who was selected because of her medical background, but will have to participate remotely because she is currently in Canada.

Finnigan said that a number of town staff members, including the police chief, fire chief, harbormaster and emergency preparedness coordinator, will act as advisors to the Ogunquit COVID-19 Task Force, which is expected to conduct its first meeting in the coming week.

In recognition of the devastating impact that COVID-19 has made on the local commercial fishing industry, select board members voted unanimously to defer collection of the town’s commercial mooring fees from May 31 to Sept. 15.

Finnigan said the fees generate about $46,000 for Ogunquit annually.

So far, some 25 of the 47 mooring fees have been paid to the town, Finnigan said.

“Commercial fishing has been hit very hard by this crisis,” he added. “If they’re not bringing money in, it’s very difficult for them to pay those fees.”

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